Another option for your pets: Acupuncture

CEDAR RAPIDS — Dr. Sarah Hickey, a Cedar Rapids veterinarian, sees it as 'another tool in the toolbox.'

Only a few animal hospitals and veterinarians in Iowa offer acupuncture for pets, but Hickey, at the Edgewood Animal Hospital in Cedar Rapids, noted it is 'nice to have another option' for animals that have run out of treatments to try to alleviate their pain.

One of those patients is Drake, a 12-year-old yellow Labrador retriever, who had a cancerous tumor removed from his back right leg. The surgery caused nerve damage that resulted in a partial loss of control in his leg and tension in his shoulders from increased weight on his front paws.

To alleviate the tension, repair the nerve damage and help Drake regain some control of his leg, Hickey began to treat him with acupuncture with electrical stimulation in an attempt to repair the nerves.

Justin DeMoss of Cedar Rapids, Drake's owner, was 'pretty skeptical' of acupuncture treatments when he first heard of the possibility. Moreover, DeMoss said he was concerned when he thought of the needles.

But after doing some research and Dr. Hickey's recommendation, he decided to go ahead with the treatments.

'When you have an old dog that you've been with for so long, you'd do anything to help him,' DeMoss said.

He said that Drake is a hunting dog and hoped the treatment could help him catch a few more birds next season because 'you never know when the last retrieve is.'

Hickey admitted pet owners often are skeptical and think it sounds like 'hocus-pocus' when they first hear of the treatments. However, she said after owners see their pets relax and improve, they are usually more accepting.

'Trigger points'

Hickey said she take a western or medical approach to acupuncture — the process of putting small needles into the skin to relieve pain and tension and treat a variety of conditions — rather than a traditional Chinese approach. She said she uses the acupuncture in a 'limited scope' and for cases in which she definitely knows it will help such as arthritis.

Before a regular acupuncture treatment, Hickey will test how the animal reacts to just a few pricks in another appointment.

If it goes well, then Hickey will begin an acupuncture treatment by running her hands over the animal to find 'trigger points' or tense spots. She then inserts usually no more than 20 small needles into those trigger points and leaves them in about 15 minutes.

While the cost of numerous acupuncture treatments may add up, Hickey said a lifelong pain medication for pets can be expensive, too. She said if pets see improvement, they can have fewer treatments over time.

Lela Schumacher has taken her corgi Chloe to acupuncture treatments for seven years and she believes she has seen results in her pet. As a puppy, Chloe had an episode when she could not walk and has developed arthritis and disc problems in her back.

'It's not a cure by any means, but I don't think she'd be here today without the acupuncture treatment,' Schumacher said.